From Adultescents to Zoomers: An Examination of Age and Gender in Prime-Time Television

In sampling situation comedies and dramas airing on the six broadcast networks during the 2003–2004 prime-time season, this study examined the characterization of age and gender. Findings indicated that prime time over-represented individuals in their 30s and 40s and under-represented individuals 60 and older. Characters in their 20s enjoyed an extended adolescence, participating in more leisure and sexual activities than any other adult cohort. When characters 60 and older were seen at all, they wielded less occupational power, were less likely to be leaders, were less sexually active, and engaged in fewer leisure activities than younger characters. The authors concluded that prime-time offers a truncated view of adulthood.     

Topic: The morale of teachers in a world at war

Science Related to Life: Book Two, Heat and Health. By Reh. American Book Co., New York, 1932. Pp. 192.

Embryology. By Mary T. Haeman. Philadelphia: Lea &; Febiger, 1932. Pp. 2–476.

Educational Biology. By William H. Atwood and Elwood D. Heiss. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son and Company, 1933. Pp. xiii + 475.

Problems in Biology. By George W. Hunter. New York: American Book Company, 1931. Pp. v + 706.

Practical Bacteriology. By T. J. Mackie and J. E. McCartney. New York: William Wood and Company, 1931. Pp. xv + 421.

The Collection and Preservation of Animal Forms. By Morris M. Wells. Chicago: General Biological Supply House, 1932. Pp. 72.

A Textbook of Histology. By J. Lewis Bremer. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son &; Co., Inc. Pp. 568.

Elementary Bacteriology. By Joseph E. Graves and Ethelyn O. Graves. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company, 1932. Pp. 5–535.

Directing Language Power in the Elementary School Child. By Caroline J. Trommer and Teresa A. Regak. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933. Pp. xii + 497.

Adventures, Book I; Trail Fires, Book II; Eastward Ho! Book III; Higher Levels, Book IV. By Grace Walker, Neli. F. Bartels and Mary E. Marye. (A series of work‐books) New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1932.

Effective Instructional Leadership. By a Committee, Rudolph D. Lindquist, Chairman. New York: Columbia University, 1933. Pp. ix + 183.

On Teaching English. By Howard Francis Seely. New York: American Book Company, 1933. Pp. xix + 391.

My Life Book. By Neal Stoddard. Cincinnati: American Book Company, 1933. Pp. vi + 106.

Fundamentals of Bookkeeping and Business. By Charles E. Bowman and Atlee L. Percy. Cincinnati: American Book Company, 1933. Pp. viii + 316.

The New First Course in Home Making. By Maude Richman Calvert and Anne E. Richardson. Atlanta: Smith, Hammond and Company, 1932. Pp. xiii + 507.

The Role of the Teacher in Personnel Work. By Ruth StranG. New York: Columbia University, 1932. Pp. xv + 332.

An Orientation Course in Education. By Joseph S. Butterweck and J. Conrad Seegers. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933. Pp. vi + 392.

Education and Certification of Elementary Teachers. Frank P. Bachman. Field Study No. 5 of the Division of Surveys and Field Studies, Peabody College.

Modern School Administration—Its Problems and Progress. By John C. Almack. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933. Pp. viii + 382.

The Evolving Common School. By Henry C. Morrison. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1933. Pp. 62.

State Scholarship Students at Hunter College of the City of New York. By Adele Bii dwrsee. New York: Columbia University, 1932. Pp. xii + 138.

Teaching History in the High School. Mary E. Peck. Published by the State Teachers College, Farmville, Virginia, 1933.

Forward Steps in Thinking and Writing. Wilson‐Rubado‐Scovlle and Johnson. Silver Burdett &; Co., 1933.

A Point Scale of Performance Tests. By Grace Arthur. New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 1933. Pp. xi + 106.

Principles of Genetics. By Edmund W. Sinnott and L. C. Dunn. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Company, Inc., 1932. Pp xvi + 441.

New High School Arithmetic—Revised. By Webster Wells and Walter W. Hart. New York: D. C. Heath and Company, 1933. Pp. viii + 357.

Teacher Absence and Leave Regulations. By William D. Kuhlman. New York: Columbia University, 1933. Pp. viii + 75.

Co‐operative Citizenship. By Joseph Irvin Arnold. Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peterson and Co., 1933. Pp. lii + 716.

Stimulation of Educational Undertakings. By J. Wayne Whightstone. New York: Columbia University, 1933. Pp. viii + 76.

Biology and Human Welfare (New Edition). By James Edward Peabody and Arthur Ellsworth Hunt. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933. Pp. xii + 658.     

Religious Influences in Public Education: Political and judicial Developments

What can preservice teachers tell us about the impact of culture on literacy? Participants responded to an open-ended survey asking, “How do you think your culture influences what you read and write?” Three themes emerged in their answers: family influence, self-exploration through literacy, and the cultural politics of literacy. Further examination led to three premises about literacy. Findings highlight the importance of students’ literacy history and provide means for teachers to reframe their instruction, based on student voice.     

A Test for Measuring Teachers’ Knowledge of the Conduct and Personality of Children from Six to Eight Years of Age

Latent class analysis is an analytic technique often used in educational and psychological research to identify meaningful groups of individuals within a larger heterogeneous population based on a set of variables. This technique is flexible, encompassing not only a static set of variables but also longitudinal data in the form of growth mixture modeling, as well as the application to complex multilevel sampling designs. The goal of this study was to investigate—through a Monte Carlo simulation study—the performance of several methods for parameterizing multilevel latent class analysis. Of particular interest was the comparison of several such models to adequately fit Level 1 (individual) data, given a correct specification of the number of latent classes at both levels (Level 1 and Level 2). Results include the parameter estimation accuracy as well as the quality of classification at Level 1.     

Using Personal Narratives for Curriculum Development about Substance Abuse and Older Adults

This article reports on a project to sensitize graduate social work students taking courses in substance abuse to the needs of older adults. Graduate social work students at a major urban school of social work in the Northeast were recruited and trained to interview older adults with a history of substance abuse problems regarding their life experiences. The authors developed educational vignettes based on the interviews and curriculum units based on these vignettes to be incorporated into the substance abuse curriculum. The challenges and rewards of engaging students in the process of developing educational vignettes based on older adults lived experiences are also discussed.     

Feedback-dialogues: exploring the student perspective

There have been many recommendations for dialogue to be part of the feedback process for students in higher education. In this paper, we report on the findings of feedback-dialogue practices among 17 history, politics and international relations undergraduate students. The study is based on findings obtained from semi-structured interviews and focus groups which sought to explore the extent to which students perceive feedback-dialogues to be part of their learning experience and subsequently the value they place upon them. The aim of the research is to develop strategies for encouraging dialogue between lecturer–student and student–student to enhance the students’ experiences of feedback. Analysis of the results indicates the existence of a ‘top-down’ approach to dialogue between lecturers and students and gaps in opportunities for these types of exchange. A range of strategies for creating models which address these two issues are proposed.     

Sense of School Community for Preschool Teachers Serving At-Risk Children

Research Findings: Challenging the development of high-quality preschool education is the instability of the preschool teacher workforce, blamed in part on workplace conditions including isolationism, perceived lack of career reward, and lack of preparation. Little attention has been given to whether a preschool's organizational climate can mitigate these challenges, despite demonstrated workplace climate effects on teachers' attitudes, commitment, and practices in kindergarten–Grade 12 teachers. This study investigated preschool teachers' perceptions of a positive workplace climate (i.e., sense of school community); predictors of these perceptions (teacher qualifications and organizational features); and relationships among teachers' sense of community, classroom teaching quality, and attitudes toward teaching in a sample of 68 preschool teachers serving at-risk 4-year-olds. Overall, teachers provided high ratings for their sense of school community, although moderate interprogram variability and moderately large to large intraprogram variability existed. Teacher qualifications and preschool affiliation did not predict teachers' sense of community, but preschool size predicted perceptions of collegial support. Perception of collegial support and program influence was significantly related to positive attitudes toward teaching; only perceptions of program influence were related to classroom quality. Practice or Policy: We discuss the potentially important role of work environment in bolstering the quality and stability of the preschool teacher workforce.     

Learning from a Computer Tutor with Natural Language Capabilities

CIRCSIM-Tutor is a computer tutor designed to carry out a natural language dialogue with a medical student. Its domain is the baroreceptor reflex, the part of the cardiovascular system that is responsible for maintaining a constant blood pressure. CIRCSIM-Tutor’s interaction with students is modeled after the tutoring behavior of two experienced human tutors. The effectiveness of CIRCSIM-Tutor has been tested by 50 first-year medical students. Using a pre-test/post-test paradigm we have demonstrated that significant learning occurs during a 1 hr interaction with the program. Students were also surveyed and indicated considerable satisfaction with the program.     

Striving for empathy: affinities,alliances and peer sexuality educators

Peer sexuality educators' accounts of their work reveal two approaches to empathy with their students: affinity and alliance. ‘Affinity-based empathy’ rests on the idea that the more commonalities sexuality educators and students share (or perceive they share), the more they will be able to empathise with one another, while ‘alliance-based empathy’ is an analytical process of considering the social contexts that shape others' lives. We assess the potential for each source of empathy to equip peer sexuality educators to counter hierarchical models of teaching and learning, effect social change and promote the interests of youth. Because shared identity categories prove difficult to manage and sustain, we find affinity alone does not offer peer sexuality educators lasting opportunities to work with young people. In contrast, developing alliance-based empathy prepares peer educators – indeed, all sexuality educators – to identify inequalities or barriers that others face and seek ways to foster social change. We conclude with recommendations for future research.